Trying to Relieve the Tension
by The Author Challenger Muse
Summary: "Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. A look into the holidays of Season 6. Halloween is crazy, Thanksgiving fluffy, Christmas embarrassing, New Years a disaster and Valentine's Day a time for fun


**Trying to Relieve the Tension**

Disclaimer:

I do not own anything from Supernatural, Invader Zim, the 1812 Overture or any other music

Summary:

"Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. A look into the holidays of Season 6. Halloween is crazy, Thanksgiving fluffy, Christmas embarrassing, New Years a disaster and Valentine's Day a time for fun

* * *

WARNING: Dysfunctional Angels Ahead

(Between Chapter 6 & 7)

"TAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOS !" Castiel screamed, running down the street to Taco Bell.

"No Cas!" Dean yelled, grabbing his arm. "No tacos!" He was amazed the angel stopped and hadn't simply disappeared on him or hell, even just used his super strength to pull away.

Cas slowly turned his head to show Dean his devastated expression and puppy dog eyes. "But," he started quietly. "I need tacos. I need them or I will explode. That happens to me sometimes."

The hunter glanced away. God, he hoped whatever was affecting the two angels wore off soon. He didn't think he could keep track of both of them all for long. Speaking of Barkiel… He looked around and nearly groaned in exasperation. Fuck! Where the hell had she gone now? Well, seeing as Amy was missing too he hoped that meant she was keeping track of the other angel. Dean turned his eyes back on Cas to see the angel pouting as he stared at Taco Bell as if it was the greatest thing on the planet. He grimaced. "Cas!" He shouted, knowing that was the only way to get the angel's attention while he was in this state.

Castiel's head perked up, turning to look at Dean though there was still a slight pout on his lips.

"I need you to locate Barky and Amy and take us to them. Can you do that?" And if he thought the angel looked adorable he kept it to himself. Surely it was just part of that damn spell because there was no reason to think so otherwise.

* * *

If you're thinking witches have something to do with Castiel's strange behavior, you'd be spot on. If you're wondering why he's acting like Gir from Invader Zim, well, let's just say the witches had a sense of humor. Luckily for Dean, the spell will wear off. However, in the mean time he does have to try to keep not only Cas but Barkiel out of trouble before then. Because as luck would have it, the spell affected both of them. At least, he hoped it only affected those two. He had no idea what he'd do if Amy was under a spell too.

* * *

Castiel and Dean appeared in the middle of street.

Dean glanced around and frowned when he didn't spot anyone. Just as he opened his mouth to ask Cas why they were here something fell from the sky, hitting the ground hard enough to crack the cement. "What the-!" To his surprise the woman easily got up, not even injured. "Ambriel?!"

She sighed, dejected. "Damnit." Amy stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes.

"Did you just jump off a rooftop?" The hunter asked in disbelief.

Blue eyes glared at him. "No. I was pushed."

Before he could ask by whom he heard someone shouting from above and looked up to see Barkiel waving from her spot on the edge of a rooftop. He watched with wide eyes as she jumped, Amy merely stepping aside to allow her friend to hit the asphalt.

Castiel stared at the blonde lying in the human-shaped hole for a moment before excitedly saying. "I wanna try!" Then suddenly he disappeared.

Dean groaned as he spotted the angel on the edge of the roof, "What the hell is wrong with them?"

The grey eyed woman squeaked as just as she'd climbed out of the hole Cas had fallen in.

Ambriel twitched. "Stop trying to kill me."

The hunter looked up in time to see Barky quickly hide a dagger behind her back.

She laughed nervously. "I'm not trying to kill you."

Her eyes narrowed, not believing a word of it as she took one big step away from her.

Dean sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Dawn was just breaking when the spell wore off.

Castiel frowned in confusion at the taco halfway in his mouth and Barkiel blinked as she wondered what the hell she missed, wondering why she had Amy gagged and bound to the bed while she straddled her waist with a dagger in her hand.

Seeing the blonde's dazed look, Ambriel's twitch and glare disappeared as she mentally sighed in relief.

Cas bit into the taco, finding it was actually quite good. He glanced at Dean with a questioning look.

"Witches' spell," was all the hunter said. He'd found it easier to just buy Castiel the tacos so he wouldn't try to wander off again and with Amy's reassurance that Barky's attempts at assassination were more annoying than actually dangerous he'd simply decided to sit back to watch some Doctor Sexy reruns on TV. Next Halloween they were definitely avoiding witches though.

* * *

It's the Greatness of Pie, Castiel

(Between Chapter 7 & 8)

"I don't understand."

Ambriel sighed and tried to rethink things. "Okay, think of it like this, God created all kinds of fruit trees. And from those trees he chose an apple tree to be the tree of knowledge." She paused to make sure Castiel was with her so far.

His expression told anyone looking that he was extremely focused. Really, it was kind of his sister to take the time to explain this to him for while he was well aware of Dean's fondness of apple pie he could not figure out why the hunter desired it on a level that just fell short of worshiping it.

"Therefore, apples are sacred." She paused again.

He frowned in thought. This was true. Logically their Father had chosen apples above all other fruit so naturally there had to be something special about them. Yes. He could agree with Ambriel's assessment. Apples were sacred. Cas tilted his head in a way that was some odd form of a nod.

"What the process of making an apple into an apple pie does is bring it to its sweetest form. Raziel actually told me this makes them as close as they could possibly be to the apples from the tree of knowledge without the supernatural component."

While he wasn't quite sure what that meant he was sure it was something important. In his mind while he knew that any apple not from the tree of the knowledge was not revered in heaven as something holy he believed she had a point. The apples on the tree of knowledge were still in fact apples. Even if Eden was in heaven. His blue eyes widened slightly. Wait… "Apple pies are the Earth equivalent to the tree of knowledge?" He frowned. "But what do apple pies do?"

She smiled, proud that he was finally getting it. "As you know humans are bound to physical sensations. The apples from the tree of knowledge affected the mind. Apple pies do the same. They affect human awareness but because of their physical form it has a more physical than spiritual affect. Of course their power depends entirely on the person who makes it. Its power only partially depends on the physical ingredients. The rest is what part of a human's soul is put into it." At his look she added, "It's not enough to provide any actual power for an angel but it is enough to comfort and instill a sense of joy, depending on how low a human's mood is."

Castiel frowned in confusion.

"For instance, if a human were depressed enough to want suicide the pie wouldn't help. But say, a human were feeling a little down or say, missing their brother." She held back a smirk as Cas's wings perked up slightly. "A pie could easily brighten up their day. Especially if it's homemade."

Suddenly his frown deepened. "I do not posses a soul."

"Grace is the angel equivalent." Then she blinked as if realizing something. "Cas? Are you telling me you want to make an apple pie?"

With a look of determination he replied, "Yes. I wish to make one for Dean. Can you teach me how?"

Amy's lips twitched up into a half-smirk. "I'd love to."

* * *

When Barkiel walked into the suite's kitchen to see the room covered in a layer of flour, sugar, apple slices, cinnamon and clumps of dough she frowned in confusion. What the hell? Then she caught sight of Ambriel and Cas who were standing in front of a pie or rather, what was left of it. Her brows drew together as she asked, "Did you guys just blow up a pie?"

Castiel ducked his head in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to but placing part of his grace inside it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Plus, he hadn't thought the pie could have such a reaction to it.

Amy sighed, ignoring the blonde. "It's fine Cas. We can try again."

An angel's grace was the angel equivalent to a human soul. However, unlike a human soul, grace needed to be consciously pushed to the surface while a human's did such a thing without any awareness that they were doing so. Of course one did need practice to ensure too much grace wasn't released. Or else, evidently, exploding pie.

* * *

Dean was disappointed not to find any pie on the table when he sat down for Thanksgiving dinner with Barkiel and Ambriel but before either of them could start to dig in he heard the telltale sign of angel wings. He looked up to see Castiel standing there, holding an apple pie of all things. "Hey Cas, what's up with the pie?"

Amy and Barkiel shared a look of amusement as Castiel looked off to the side, too nervous to look Dean in the eye.

The angel looked down at the pie as he stepped forward as if afraid it was going to jump out of his hands before he offered it to Dean.

He glanced up at Cas, curious. "You're giving me a pie?"

Castiel's eyes met Dean's green orbs for a moment before he quickly looked away. "Ambriel taught me how to make it."

The two women held back their snickers as the lightest blush appeared on the hunter's face and the biggest grin formed on his lips. Those two were so cute!

Dean took it, grinning at the angel. "Thanks Cas."

Blue eyes met green again and this time Castiel felt heat fill his cheeks before he cleared his throat, looking away and sticking his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. "You're welcome." And then he was gone.

He never could figure out why Barky and Ambriel thought the fact he enjoyed the pie was so funny. Even his comment that Castiel's pie was better than Ambriel's only made them laugh harder. Eventually he decided that women were just weird, and he'd never understand them though admittedly he usually understood these two a lot better than most women even if they were angels.

* * *

The Story of the Hellhound Repellent

(During the time spent at Bobby's after Sam gets his soul back, Chapter 9)

With the return of Sam's soul being so close to Christmas it was decided they would go celebrate the holiday at Bobby's.

Sam was surprised when Dean and the two angels automatically started decorating without a word to one another. His brother hadn't usually been one for celebrating the holidays and although Dean hadn't been with Lisa he was happy to know that Ambriel and Barkiel had encouraged his brother to open himself to such a celebration.

With the additional help of Sam and Bobby it hadn't taken long for them to decorate both the inside and outside of the house.

Amy and Barky left and returned with a tree that was so big they would've had trouble bringing it in the front door. Luckily, as angels they didn't need a door at all.

After decorating the tree Sam had been surprised again when the angels claimed the kitchen, demanding that no one enter or else.

Dean had chuckled at this because the dark-haired angel had sent a suspicious glare at Sam as if suspecting his brother to ignore her demand and enter the kitchen anyway.

Sammy was bewildered but decided not to test her. A couple hours later he noticed Dean glancing toward the kitchen, obviously wanting food. "You know we're not allowed in there Dean."

He just smirked, got up and walked over to the kitchen. Then he knocked on the door and held out his hand.

The door opened a foot and a hand reached out, dumped two square brownies in his palm before closing again.

Dean just chuckled again at the look on his brother's face as he took a bite out of one of the brownies, handing the second one to Sam.

* * *

Christmas dinner had been…well, honestly it was the best Sam could ever remember having. It was a real Christmas dinner with his family and while he hadn't known Barkiel or Ambriel long he was proud to have them as part of the family. Plus, the two of them had great stories about their hunts with Dean.

"Apparently hellhounds had been terrorizing the town," Amy explained.

The blonde angel snickered, looking at Dean who had this look of disgust on his face as he remembered that day.

"So there were demons there?" Bobby asked.

Ambriel smirked and shook her head, giving a short laugh. "No. Apparently just a new litter of hellhound pups who wanted some humans to play with."

"But Dean didn't know that so when he heard them coming for him after we'd split up to see what was going on he took out his jar of hellhound repellent." She snickered again at the expression on the older Winchester's face.

Sam's brows came together. "Hellhound repellent?"

Barky wiggled her eyebrows. "Amy gave him some last Christmas and boy was he surprised when he finally figured out exactly what it was."

Dean groaned and lowered his head down against the palms of his hands. "You two couldn't have warned me?"

The two angels started laughing.

Bobby giving the three a look. "Well, what the hell was it?"

"Hellhound pee from one powerful hellhound!" The blue-eyed angel laughed out.

Dean didn't look up.

Bobby snorted in amusement while Sammy chuckled.

"Poor guy had to walk all the way back to the hotel like that and then they almost refused to let him in due to the smell!" Barkiel added.

Dean only glanced up to glare at them but it didn't last as he started laughing too. Holidays with these two seemed to get better every year. Now if only Cas had shown up it would've been perfect.

* * *

And the Cars Came Tumblin' Down

(pre-Dragons chapter 9)

The days following Christmas the two angels could be seen whispering to each other, walking around Bobby's yard and staring at the things in it.

Bobby wondered what they could be up to when he saw them making measurements but thought it best not to ask.

Sam, who saw no reason not to ask was only yelled at by Ambriel for breaking her concentration. After that he stayed away.

Dean was the only one who didn't spare them a second glance as the two appeared with a big crate. He only gave them a smile before his gaze returned to the TV. He knew what they were doing. It was New Years Eve after all so it was rather obvious.

When it was close to midnight Amy and Barkiel pressed the Play button and music came from various speakers throughout the yard, playing 1812 Overture before they lit the fuse.

Dean rushed outside, immediately recognizing the music and Sam followed. The two glanced from the angels to the fireworks that started up, going off as if taking cues from the music **(AN: Seen the explosions in V for Vendetta? I used the same music for those who don't know the music off the top of their head or what I mean by the fireworks going off in time with the music).**

It was going well for the first minute but then suddenly the fireworks started blowing up cars and other things in the yard.

"SHIT!" Barky cursed as both her and Ambriel grabbed the Winchesters and appeared inside Bobby's house with them.

"What the heck did you two idgits do!" Bobby demanded when he saw them.

The two angels gave him nervous smiles.

"Heh, we set up enough fireworks to keep going off for the next seven minutes but a couple must've fallen over cuz-"

Another series of crashes and explosions were heard from outside, causing everyone except Bobby to wince.

"We'll fix it!" The blonde angel added.

* * *

When the explosions could no longer be heard outside Bobby opened the door and went out to survey the damage.

The other four followed at a distance, wincing as they took in the damage. Damn. Had the fireworks destroyed everything? It certainly looked like it.

No one looked back when the sound of wings came from behind them and Castiel appeared. He looked at the mess and somehow knowing the day was New Years, asked quite seriously, "Is it a New Years tradition to blow up one's yard?"

Barkiel's brows drew together as she slowly glanced back at him in disbelief and after seeing how serious he was, couldn't help but snort.

Amy rolled her eyes with a small half smile. One of these days they were going to sit Cas down and explain all the holidays.

* * *

Expression Through Song

(Between chapter 9 & 10)

So it was that Valentine's Day arrived and the two Winchester brothers and two angels exchanged chocolate, Sam being thrown for a loop at such a normal tradition but didn't dare complain. However, he had no idea why the four of them where in a particularly gruesome bar that had no sign of any Valentine decorations in sight.

"We're good," Barkiel said, coming back from somewhere else in the bar. "Dean, you're up."

He flashed her a grin before getting up and disappearing into the crowd.

"Why are we here?" Sam finally questioned.

"Tradition." Amy replied. "Every V-day night we do Karaoke. Except, whoever's not singing picks the songs," she answered with a small smirk. "Sooo, what do you want to hear Dean sing?"

* * *

Dean gave Sam a look as they traded off. "I'm an asshole?"

He shrugged with a grin as he took the mic.

* * *

Sammy's eyebrow was twitching as he handed the microphone to Ambriel. Dean had chosen for him to sing (sexy, naughty, bitchy - tata young).

Amy was indifferent to the song Sam chose for her to sing (Fighter - Christina Aguilera).

Barkiel enjoyed singing and dancing to the song Ambriel chose (Don't trust Me - 3oh3).

Dean took his second turn, singing Barky's choice which was actually a song he quite liked (I wanna be a cowboy baby).

The younger Winchester wasn't happy with Amy's choice and was decidedly pouty and sulky after singing (Ass Like That - Eminem) while everyone else laughed and snickered.

The dark-haired angel enjoyed singing (LMFAO parody - Potter Rock Anthem), which had been the Barkiel's choice for her.

Barky just rolled her eyes at Dean's choice for her (Cause I'm a Blonde - Julie Brown) but did a wonderful job playing the dumb blonde.

The green-eyed hunter was giving Ambriel a look when he found out what kind of song (Boy Hunter - Skye Sweetnam) was.

The blue-eyed angel just grinned. Hey, she thought it would've been obvious.

Sammy practically had a dark cloud over his head when he was done singing Barkiel's choice (Baby Got Back - Sir Mix Alot) for him.

Once again, everyone else thought it was hilarious.

When it was Amy's turn, she actually blushed slightly at the song Dean had chosen for her but was none-the-less pleased as she danced and sang (My Best Friend's Hot - The Dollyrots).

It was obvious to Barky that Sam merely chose her song because of the title (If you seek Amy - Britney Spears) but still, it was a pretty good choice for someone who didn't know her too well.

All in all, it was better than the previous year.

* * *

**Coming Soon:**

The Guardians, Wise and Bright

Summary:

Dean's standing there with nothing but a sheet and a dog collar. Sam asks why. Cas wonders why his vessel's heart is beating faster and Dean blames his current state on them – The Guardians

* * *

**Due to the fact that Christmas is next Tuesday and New Years on the Tuesday after that I won't be posting this next story on Tuesday. I'm not sure when I'll post it but it will be some time between Christmas and New Years hopefully. If not, well, there's always the Tuesday after New Years.**


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